Friday, 27 March 2015

Boyne Berries 17 was launched last evening in the Castle Arch Hotel. A large crowd included contributors who had travelled from as far away as Galway and Cork to be present.

Boyne Writers chairperson, Caroline Carey Finn, welcomed everyone and introduced Adrienne Leavy (right) who launched the issue. Adrienne lived in Dundalk, County Louth, for the first twenty-five years of her life but immigrated to the United States and now lives in Arizona. She has a Ph.D. in English Literature from Arizona State University frequently lectures on various aspects of Irish literature.

Adrienne thanked the group for inviting her to the launch and complimented the editor, Orla Fay, on the publication. She talked about how important small magazines have been and are to Irish writers. She mentioned how importance acceptance by Boyne Berries was to her writing. She thanked Boyne Writers Group for their work in establishing and continuing to publish the magazine.

Editor, Orla Fay, (left) then introduced each reader and we were treated to a feast of wonderful poetry and prose. As usual the variety of topic and treatment was impressive and the audience enjoyed all, the humorous and the sad, the wise and the witty.

One contributor, M.J. Iuppa who lives on a small farm on the shores of Lake Ontario, had sent a sound file with a greeting and a reading of her poem and this was played.

The evening ended with a presentation to Paddy Smith to mark his retirement from the chair of Boyne Writers after six years service.